Integration platform-as-a-service (IPaaS) is an integration solution that has been around for over a decade. Since 2011, it has increased in adoption as more businesses facilitate their workloads on the cloud.
Often, businesses need multiple applications and systems to improve operations. And these applications are better off working together than independently. The challenge is that these applications aren’t programmed to communicate, making integration a tedious task. That’s where the iPaaS integration solution comes in handy. It’s a cloud-based integration approach connecting different systems across an entire organization. Some benefits of using an integration platform as a service include the following advantages.
Cost-Effectiveness
Cloud solutions are cost-effective and are your best bet on the data integration market. You can use the Gartner magic quadrant integration to assess multiple options to find an iPaaS provider that fits your exact specifications. Generally, businesses can link their premises applications with cloud platforms without any middleware or hardware. Every part of your integration projects happens on the platform, and IT doesn’t need any server or infrastructure. That saves you from capital-intensive expenses to procure, install, and maintain these systems.
Also, integration projects that use integration-platform-as-a-service don’t require expensive recruitment and training of a well-experienced IT department. Furthermore, they support low and zero-code approaches and reduce complex operations to point-click and drag-drop features, making it easy for non-tech users to deploy integration projects.
Operational Efficiency
Mobile devices and internet proliferation rates are at an all-time high. Each day, there seems to be a new tool for businesses to match their problems boot for boot. But the abundance of applications doesn’t automatically translate to efficiency, and that’s the problem many businesses face today—application overload. End-users have an average of eight applications to manage operations, creating data silos and inhibiting an efficient workforce. This is when a good cloud solution comes in.
It can serve as a single source to accommodate multiple applications from legacy systems to other software platforms. It can also parse different systems and data from disparate sources so that business users can deploy applications in less time, improving operational efficiency.
iPaaS platforms also afford a well-rounded view of an organization’s data and systems, making it easier to generate effective outcomes from your operations. About 80 percent of business leaders who have invested in an iPaaS solution say that it has positively impacted their operations. The platform has also exposed them to customization tools to scale up and down depending on the business’s needs.
Improved Decision Making
Many business executives depend on insights from multiple applications and systems to make decisions. They have shifted from making decisions based on ill-informed assumptions to decisions that guarantee sustainability and long-term business benefits.
A huge part of this paradigm shift depends on how fast business users can access large volumes of data, transforming them into accurate decision-making insights.
The process can be challenging, but your iPaaS platform can make things more manageable. Using such a solution means you can swiftly access relevant data from a single source of truth. It employs automation in multiple data management areas, including entry, collection, tracking, and analytics. Automation also reduces the reliance on human interaction and makes the entire data management process more convenient.
Multiple Working Environments
Different data sources have different demands, protocols, and business processes for data access and utilization. This can make data synchronization across premise and cloud applications challenging unless you’re using an integrated-platform-as-a-service platform where you can access all applications from a single source. Data professionals working in multi-cloud environments can easily transform and integrate their data assets without satisfying individual encryption and coding formats. Enterprise integration platforms simplify API management, allowing business users to facilitate efficient workflows. This feature can also improve remote collaboration among business users across an entire ecosystem.
All in all, integration-platforms-as-a-service is here to stay. Gartner cites integrated-platform-as-a-service as one of the fastest-growing enterprise software market segments, possessing endless use cases for businesses of all sizes.
